AUSTIN — The state’s top criminal appeals court has agreed to review the abuse of power case against Rick Perry, marking the latest turn in the protracted legal battle that the former governor blamed for his early exit from the 2016 presidential race.

The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed Wednesday to hear arguments in the appeals of both counts against Perry: a coercion of a public official charge, which had been tossed by a lower court, and a misuse of office charge, which had been upheld.

The court scheduled oral arguments for Nov. 4, even though Perry’s legal team had argued that such a proceeding would be unnecessarily time-consuming.

The whole episode began in 2013. That’s when Perry threatened to veto $7.5 million budgeted for the Travis County district attorney’s office if the Democrat in charge there, Rosemary Lehmberg, didn’t resign after her drunken-driving arrest.

Lehmberg didn’t resign. Perry vetoed the money, which was earmarked for the office’s public integrity unit, a body that investigates and prosecutes cases of corruption involving public officials. Perry was indicted last year.

Since then, the case has wound through the legal system — outlasting Perry’s second presidential campaign.

A state appeals court tossed out one of the charges in the indictment, saying the count of coercion of a public official violated Perry’s right to free speech. That court found that the second charge, misuse of his office, could proceed to trial.

Perry appealed the decision on the misuse of office charge. And the Office of the State Prosecuting Attorney in August asked for a reversal on the coercion of a public official charge, citing a responsibility to defend state law.

That set the stage for the state Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision to review both points.

Perry has been outspoken in his criticism of the case.

He said in September that the legal battle had had a “corrosive effect” on his presidential campaign’s ability to raise money. Though he said “we fully expect these things to go away,” he cited the indictments as one of the biggest drags on his White House bid.